We had a vision…..

Let me briefly introduce the lovely folks here at Owl’s Hollow Homestead!

• My wonderful husband Chuck – online entrepreneur extraordinaire
• My beautiful daughter Fallon – our own life saving paramedic
• My ever creative, MacGyverish son in law Darren – woodworking master
• And me, Donna – the family wordsmith and insurance expert

 

The first thing you need to understand – as it says in the title – is that the owners of Owl’s Hollow Homestead are city people.  To our core.  Food is something you get from the grocery store, stores and malls are open 7 days a week and we could not imagine not having a Starbucks within spitting distance of any location we found ourselves in.  None of us even had a yard to mow, or flower gardens to look after.  We know absolutely nothing about homesteading, nothing, nada, zero.  I can’t underscore this enough, truly, I didn’t even have houseplants.

Too many years of 60-70 hour work weeks in a fast paced, high stress corporate environment were starting to take their toll on me. The city was just getting busier and faster and noisier.  Did I mention that we lived in Surrey…. which, if you know anything about Surrey makes that all self explanatory.  Drive by shootings, used needles, drug problems galore and never ending fire, ambulance and police sirens all night long.

Running away from it all was starting to sound like heaven. My husband and I decided we needed a simpler life, something quieter, cleaner, and slower than we had.  We talked about it a lot – we would change it up a bit – sometimes we just had a little cottage on a half acre – maybe a small garden.  My husband added chickens – he really, really wanted them.  I always thought they just appeared in the supermarket – so didn’t really feel strongly one way or the other.  All I wanted was a dog. Life would be simple and comfortable and one day we would get there.  At this point, all I can say is, be careful what you wish for.

Fortunately for us, Fallon and Darren were getting a little fed up with the city too.  For the last few years they had been living in a 700 sq ft basement suite with little to no natural light. Ok, maybe not that hard for the younger, video watching, uber game playing younger generation.  They were planning a wedding and wanted to get into the housing market – a virtual impossibility in the city – and really didn’t want to raise their potential future kids in Surrey.  Or any city for that matter, but really not in Surrey.  Their work schedules almost never coincided with each other and each were working harder and longer trying to get extra money for their future.  Ugh! No way for newlyweds to behave….. how would those grandchildren ever appear. I can hear them both sighing from here.  I know…. my vision…. not necessarily theirs…. right now!

Attribute it to whatever you like – stress, exhaust fumes, poor eating habits, copious amounts of alcohol – but we started merging our visions.  Before we knew it, we had a plan.  We talked about places we thought would be great to run away to – the Kootenay’s and the Salmon Arm area were high on the list.  We would get the kids set up with jobs and we would pool our money to buy a property.  My husband and I could use the property as a seasonal place for us and when we were ready to slow down – we would move out to the property to be with them.  A great plan!!!   Totally not what happened – but it was a great plan!!!  We had a VISION!!!! A job offer for Darren brought us out to Nelson – the plan was on fire!!! I had visited here before and loved the area – but the rest of the troupe had never been here.  Everyone loved it here – and we started looking at properties.  It was all coming together so beautifully.  Until it fell apart and died a sudden and horrible death.  The loss of a large contract for the company that gave Darren the job offer meant that they had to withdraw the offer.  NO!!! We were in love with Nelson…. we had to come here!!!

OK on to vision number two…. I did’t mention that there were two visions did I???  We are nothing if not stubborn. Fast forward one year and the situation pretty much changes in an instant!  I have an inkling that my middle management, corporate job is going to get “restructured” out of existence.  I was going to be free!!! to find some other employment…. and hey! – who says it has to be in the city?   Switch the plan to Chuck and I move to Nelson and the kids follow as soon as they can get work.  The vision is alive!!!!!!   Off we go to look at more properties…. and we fall in love.  We found a property in Salmo that was perfect!!! It had everything we wanted …. something for all of us!  43 acres of lovely, quiet, peaceful land.  Two houses, one for each family, a cozy one for Chuck and I, and a bigger one for the kids to fill with….. well…. a bigger one for the kids. (really no pressure guys!)  Two workshops for all the crazy MacGyver stuff Darren puts together, and one that Chuck can have for his beloved chickens.  A lovely stream running thru the back of the property just added to the picture and a barn big enough to so some serious work in.  Fallon could have as big a garden as she wanted and me….. I was secure in the knowledge that there were both a casino and a spa nearby.  It was perfect.

It wasn’t easy getting our hands on it… but we did. Finally…. a sold sign went up and we started making new plans. I’ll get to that plan in my next post.

Did I mention that we were city folks???  What are city folks going to do with 43 acres??